Missing Midshipman
by elfmaiden4legs
Summary: Captain Pellew worries about Hornblower after recieving news that he's been taken prisoner by the Spanish fleet.


**Missing Midshipman**

It was raining outside Captain Pellew observed as he looked wearily out of his cabin window and out to sea. The weather outside suitably reflected the grave atmosphere within he thought silently to himself… for he was a man tormented by worry, and the humour of his crew hadn't fared much better.

Ever since Hornblower and his men had gone missing, captured by the Spanish fleet, and now likely being held prisoner just inshore of enemy lands Pellew had been sent in search of the dispatches he'd entrusted to Hornblower before they'd left Gibraltar. The papers were of vital importance to the war effort, if they were to fall into enemy hands all of their lives would be at risk, and Captain Pellew had given the young Hornblower strict instructions that should such eventuality arise the documents were to go to the bottom of the sea. However the future of the British Empire was not solely what played heavily upon Pellew's mind, nor was it the fate of the Duchess, although she was an innocent and vulnerable woman caught in the crossfire of bloody war – the Spaniards would realise who she was soon enough, that they were in the presence of English nobility, and make arrangements to have her sent back home to England – but it was the fate of Lefttennant Hornblower which prayed most heavily upon his mind.

At that moment in time Captain Pellew had no way of knowing if he was even alive or dead.

From the moment he'd first met the young Hornblower he'd sensed something very special about him, and had held him in the highest regard, a deep respect which over time had turned into something of a fatherly concern.

The boy had shown considerable promise, but had needed nurturing, and Captain Pellew had seen it as his duty as the man's commander and captain to shape him into the best possible officer he could be.

Hornblower was indeed now one of the best, and most promising of men in the Kings Navy, and Captain Pellew couldn't bare the idea of the young man serving out the rest of the war a prisoner of the enemy fleet, or losing his life in a filthy prisoner of war camp away from comfort and the reassurance of familiar things.

Captain Pellew was indeed a man torn by priorities, he wanted so desperately to be looking for Hornblower, who would know better than anyone the location of the missing dispatches. If the papers had indeed gone to the bottom of the sea they were in all likelihood lost, with little hope of retrieving them anyway, but he realised that it would be sheer folly to risk the lives of an entire fleet of men in the search for one.

He realised in his heart however that if anybody had the courage and initiative to escape, and lead his men out of danger it was Hornblower. He got to thinking how his vested interest in the young man had evolved over their years of service together, how he'd seen Hornblower grow from a nervous, sea sick and insecure boy, a child so dangerously out of his depth, into a man, and how he'd affectionately come to view the Acting Lefttennant as he would of one of his very own. He felt fiercely protective of the young Hornblower, the son he'd never had, and yet he'd found a kindred spirit in the young Acting Lefttennant. He realised however that as his commanding officer a Captain wasn't supposed to have any favourites, they were there to do a job, they had a war to win, and Captain Pellew had a dutiful concern towards all of his men, although he couldn't help but feel that the loss of Hornblower would feel like a personal loss to himself.

He couldn't let this, his own anxiety, however cloud his judgement. Sometimes, Pellew thought, the hardest part of being a Captain was having to put your own feelings aside for the sake of the country you were fighting for, and your men… they were after all relying on him.

As Captain Pellew stared out at the bitter ocean, the rain now coming down in heavy droves and whipping up angry waves which rocked and tousled the great size of the _Indefatigable_, he thought about the sheer expanse of water separating them and the Spanish coast.

"Come on Hornblower, where are you?" He whispered under his breath, his tone coming out a despairing growl as he fought hard to keep his anxiety at bay.

He could only hope that even now Hornblower was but a few miles away, already hatching a plan to escape captivity, and lead himself and his men back to freedom. For now there was nothing more Captain Pellew could do.


End file.
